a favor to ask
by kindovvf
Summary: A phone call in the middle of the night. Someone was in trouble.


_"_ _Alright. I need you to listen to me carefully. Very carefully. I might not be able to repeat it twice."_

Dell rose from his bed. He frowned, landing his other hand that wasn't holding the phone at the drawer, haphazardly trying to grab his glasses. When he failed to do so, he turned his head only to find his glasses anywhere but on the drawer. He ran his fingers through his hair, eyes darting swiftly across the room. "Wait, hold on. I barely see anything here."

 _"_ _What do you mean by "barely see anything"? You going blind?"_

Dell got up from his bed, forgetting the messy duvet he left behind. Where the _hell_ did he put his glasses? "Goddamit, no. I lost my glasses."

 _"_ _Well, I appreciate how you appreciate your sight, but can't it wait? I got more important thing to say."_

"Did you?" Dell reached the living room. He had to squint his eyes so hard it almost ruined his already sore mood. "Yeah. Go on while I'm rummaging through a bunch of papers here. Great God, whose sock is this?"

The other line silenced for a solid ten seconds. Dell stopped rustling through the stuff on the coffee table. There were papers, books, pens, shirt buttons, and other stationery knick-knacks he didn't remember ever put. "Momo?"

 _"_ _Aye."_

"You still there?"

 _"_ _Exactly I am."_

"You go silent so suddenly."

 _"_ _I thought someone was saying to wait until he find his glasses."_

Dell raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become so considerate?"

 _"_ _I always do! Speak for yourself."_

He let out a chuckle, his hand accidentally swiped off a thin book. It fell to the rug with a soft thud. Dell stared at his glasses for three seconds before snatched it, quickly putting it on. The world became clear around him, and he huffed in contentment. "I found my glasses. Buried underneath a book. Now, what was it you said?"

" _Did you_?" Momo used his words against him. Dell plopped down on the couch, making a mental note to tidy up the coffee table as soon as Momo hang up the call. _"The problem is, I think I got into a problem."_

"Well that's just typical. You always do."

 _"_ _Would you please shut the hell up and let me finish?"_

Dell complied. He was still too sleepy to engage in any serious conversation anyway. "I will."

 _"_ _Thank you,"_ Momo said sarcastically. He could hear her taking a deep breath before continuing. _"I sure as hell have myself involved in a problem. Nothing lethal. Nothing dangerous. Nothing serious. Well, forget the last one, actually a pretty big deal for me. In brief, I got a very important email earlier this day and the content ... let's say it is pretty surprising."_

Dell opened his mouth to ask what email and what it was saying, but held back for the sake of his own safety. The last time Dell had kept cutting off Momo's sayings, Momo kicked him in the shinbone and threatened him never to listen to his rambling again. Dell had strongly objected, for rarely did he ever be quite a whiner, but Momo shot him a glare while holding out her phone. That gesture effectively sent Dell grinning sheepishly. Momo had ever recorded him rambling on and on when he was drunk, somewhere in the past.

 _"_ _I read them twice. Thrice. I think more than that? I wouldn't talk about the email in detail because there wouldn't be enough time, so hear me out: can you visit my house by the end of the week?"_

"What for?"

 _"_ _Go to my mom. And my dad. And my bro. They should be staying at home at around 12 p.m., so I recommend that you go at that time. Do you happen to have anything to do around that hour?"_

"No, I suppose."

 _"_ _Then 12 p.m. it is. Tell my mom and my dad I love them and I trust every single decision they have made for me throughout my life, and I like my mom's tomato soup eventhough I never said it out loud, kind of regret it by now. And I'm really grateful that my dad has taught me how to repair a car on my own, it's really useful, just say to him thank you, and how he would be very proud of me if only he knows I have been expert enough to open a repair shop, which I've been preparing to do anyway, but now I don't think it would ever have its grand opening. Tell my bro, my super annoying bro, tell him it's very unfortunate that I never have a chance to rip the ridiculous bangs off his head, tell him that if he ever want to be a rebel guy, try to find a better hairstyle, because his hair in the meantime is like a bunch of crap crumpled together. And ... well, I think that's it. Hope that genius brain of yours could memorize every thing I said."_

"I do."

 _"_ _Good. No worries, then."_

"..."

 _"_ _..."_

"Hey."

 _"_ _Yeah?"_

"You exaggerate too much."

 _"_ _Damn right I probably am. But I'm freaking out right now so I don't give a crap. Just make sure my parents and my bro get my messages, alright, of course, thank you, you're welcome."_

"I see no chance of slacking off."

 _"_ _Don't you dare."_

"Why are you telling me this?"

 _"_ _Telling you what?"_

"All this exaggerating stuff you just told me. Come on, you're not going to a war, are you."

 _"_ _I am not."_ Silence. _"Or, maybe I am. Kind of."_

"... Beg pardon?"

 _"_ _I will not come to you in the middle of the night just for saying some nonsense crap, you know that? Not a big fan of disturbing a friend's sleep."_

"Okay," Dell tried to sort out his mind so that he could think more clearly. "Now why are you, exactly, telling me _this_?"

 _"_ _Because ..."_ Momo drawled, her words hanging undone. Dell could sense her hesitance loud and clear. He almost asked Momo to just spit it out and be done with it, but apparently Momo had shoved away her doubt in the blink of an eye. _"Because I think I'm going to die in less than 24 hours start from now. That's why I'm telling you this."_

Dell jerked upright, bumped his toe against the coffee table, eyes widened in a full-force surprise while he practically screeched to his phone, "You're going to _what_?!"


End file.
